Richard Bruton (Dublin North Central, Fine Gael)

I do not know whether the Minister of State is being deliberately obtuse in failing to address the issues raised by the Opposition or if his head is so buried in the sand that he cannot see them. This amendment does not require the NESC to report to the Dáil and that is not at stake. The crucial matter is that, prior to the commencement of negotiations on agreements, a debate should be held in the Dáil on the agenda for social partnerships, a key ingredient of which is the NESC report. We have that report, so there is no question of interfering in its work but we do not hold debates on or bear responsibility for shaping the way in which social partnership develops, even though we have been elected by the citizens and have a genuine mandate which should influence Government policy. Ministers want to ignore the Oireachtas to continue dealing with these issues behind closed doors by means of an unaccountable system.

I agree that ten years ago we might have changed this but, while the past decade has seen dramatic transformations, we have not effectively addressed partnership in areas of change. Ten years ago, people believed social partnership was successful because it focused on a narrow range of matters, such as, employment, public debt and competitiveness. However, current issues are much broader, concerning the environment, consumers and public reform. These are areas in which the Government has failed to deliver and in which partnership has not had the necessary impetus for reform. A mature change is needed in terms of the way this system operates so that we can build on the strengths of partnership and give a real role to the people who are elected with a mandate. The Minister of State deliberately chose to ignore all those issues in his reply and is pretending that we are trying to interfere with the way the NESC produces reports.

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